I had the hon­our and priv­i­lege to pho­to­graph the first Diva Foundation awards gala tonight. The mis­sion state­ment of the foun­da­tion is to rec­og­nize out­stand­ing con­tri­bu­tions to women’s health and well being. The first award win­ner was Maureen McTeer, pic­tured here with her hus­band Joe Clark.

The list of accom­plish­ments that Ms McTeer has achieved is too long for a sim­ple blog post, but (to put it mildly) she is immi­nently deserv­ing of the recog­ni­tion. The award includes a spe­cially designed pin, and a cheque, donated to cre­ate a Chair in Women?s Clinical Health Research at the Shirley E. Greenberg Women?s Health Centre at the Ottawa Hospital. She also received a framed copy of the con­grat­u­la­tory let­ter from Micha?lle Jean, the Governor General.

She was intro­duced by the Right Honourable Beverly McLachlin, Chief Justice of Canada, and (if I may say so) a pretty fun per­son to be around.

…Mike

Last night was the Ottawa Gala. This is the fifth year I have pho­tographed it and I think this was the best yet!

The Gala is a semi-formal ball, com­plete with live enter­tain­ment, prizes, and a great dance club atmos­phere. The VIP lounge is where most peo­ple started off the night, enjoy­ing the great food and open bar.

This was one of the prizes: a $7,000 dia­mond ring donated by Howard Jewelers!

This years theme was “Through the Looking Glass.” There were jug­glers dressed up as Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum…

…a con­tor­tion­ist…

…even an ultra­vi­o­let dancer

This was fol­lowed of course by the tracks laid down by DJ Select and DJ Magnificent!

If you missed it this year, make you plans now to attend next year! It’s a great way to ben­e­fit a great char­ity

…Mike

The gala was a blast as usual and we were so happy to have the oppor­tu­nity once again to be the event pho­tog­ra­phers! The James Bond fash­ion show, texas-hold-em tables in the Daniel Craig Casino, the VIP room with great food and an open bar, a fenc­ing demon­stra­tion and of course the party with DJ Select and DJ Magnificent bringin the house down! I look for­ward to this event every year, and it never fails to dis­ap­point

I don’t have a num­ber yet on how much money was raised, but when I find out I’ll let you all know!

The photo hilights for this years gala are here. Previous years are avail­able too: 2004 2005 2006.

Enjoy!

…Mike

Evil-doers beware…this year’s Ottawa Gala has the secret agent flava all wrapped up! Check it out and we’ll see you there!

…Mike

This was the fourth annual auc­tion to ben­e­fit the Canadian Paraplegic Association, and the sec­ond year that I have had the priv­i­lege of doc­u­ment­ing it. This year I also donated one of my water­fall pho­tos for the silent auc­tion, printed up nice and large. I don’t know how much it gen­er­ated but I am very happy to have helped

…Mike